Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Permit me to apologize to all of those who have so
generously followed my blog over the past several years. However, I have had some personal issues with
which I had to deal that has required my attention. I hope I can get back into the swing of
things and share a few of my thoughts with those of you who loyally follow my
machinations on a variety of subjects.

I well remember the years leading up to WWII and the ensuing
years that followed, during a time when we showed the world what we were, as a
people, during our finest hours. We were
a good and decent people, whose generosity and support for a large part of the
world was freely given and never in doubt.
We carried that over to the post-war years, and it was that energy and
devotion that took us to (and through) one of the greatest boom periods in the
history of the world. But, as we moved
into an ever more burgeoning economy and all that it brought with it, we seem
to have gradually lost the sense of patriotism and charity that was our
hallmark. Instead, we appear to have
moved into successive periods of greater attention to prosperity and
materialism that has had a profound, and not particularly good, effect on our
fabric as a people.

It was by the wisdom and generosity of the American people
that I was fortunate enough to serve in the United States Navy and,
subsequently, qualified for the G.I. Bill that gave me the opportunity to
attend one of the finest universities in the country and all of the attendant opportunities
that went with it. It is a gift I have
always treasured and one which I could never fully repay.

The virtues of equality, liberty and justice for all seem to
have eroded over time that has, in my opinion, tended to lead us to a lesser
sense of humility and a greater appearance of superiority that was never part
and parcel of who and what we were. I
find it rather disheartening to realize the countless numbers of those who gave
of their lives and treasure for those of us who followed, and who are but
fading memories and the ghosts of real heroes we once revered. The pursuit of pleasure seems to have trumped
our sense of purpose, and I find that rather disturbing.

We seem to have little regard for and less reverence for
character and substance than we do for fame, fortune and affluence. Public officials once looked upon as servants
of the people have, instead, become benefactors of public wealth, fame and
celebrity, which were never intended to be part of their service. Many have profited handsomely from their
management of their elected status and all that came with it.

I think we have become seduced by what we have attributed to
our “democratic” form of government and the attendant cost to our character and
a sense of what is right and just.
Rather, we seem to have exchanged the honor of that system to one of
exploitation, profiteering and celebrity, rather than service, dignity and
honor. It doesn't seem to me that the
people of this country got the best of that deal.

Our new penchant for affluence and power seems to have taken
our priorities from less concern about who and what we are than how much we
have and how much we personally gain than from what it does for our own sense
of purpose and basic decency.

I don’t particularly like what I see nor am I reassured by
what I fear is coming. We are becoming a
more empty and shallow society, and I don’t see how that bodes well for any of
us.

We seem to have placed on the altar of greed the avarice of
banks, that of investment houses and the military/industrial complex over our
selves by earning a decent standard of living and becoming productive
citizens. Most prominent among the
aspirants seem to only want more of the pie for themselves and less for the
rest of us. When you look at the
exponential growth of the billionaire club it would appear that their goals are
coming to pass. One need only look at
some of the most vulnerable among us who are previous and current college
students simply trying to make their way, legitimately, to the next higher
rungs of the economic ladder. Instead,
they are becoming members of the burgeoning and indentured servant class of
modern times.

Perhaps the government could put some of the empty prisons
to good use by offering free board and room to all those who so effectively and
efficiently drove many of our fellow citizens into bankruptcy? It would be a fitting end to their
illustrious careers, and something their partners in crime still ensconced in
cushy government positions should have done for the taxpayers they so adroitly
fleeced preparatory to laying claim to their new found wealth.

Frankly, I regard anyone who seriously considers our
two-party system an example for the rest of the free world to emulate as being
a bit off balance. All it shows me is
how a very well-honed system of “you scratch my back and I will scratch yours”
really works. Just take stock of all
those of prominence and wealth in government.
I state my case.

I think the time is long overdue for a third political party
that truly represents the people of these United States. The charade has not worked for us, so far,
nor is it likely to do so in the foreseeable future.

When one filters out of the equation all of those from
wealthy and prominent families, plus the cadre of prominent power mongers and
thieves, there isn't much of substance and honestly left to count. We can do better than our track record would
suggest.

We are a better country and better people than what we have
gotten. We deserve better than this and
there is no reason why we should not strive for that goal.

Anyone who does not see a real winner in Elizabeth Warren
for President is tarnished by the deception of a wealthy and powerful class of
people in this country. They are the
leftovers and the losers. My take is
that what we see in Elizabeth Warren is the real deal; we should stop any
delusions of those who have laid claim to being better qualified. We can (and should) do better than what we
have had for far too long.

Friday, February 6, 2015

I just finished reading a collection of "comments" on my blog written by a host of people who, I am sure, are much more qualified to evaluate what I have written than I.

Although late in life, all that I have written is from the very depths of my being. I cannot profess to be a sage of any kind, but nothing that has been published on this blog is copyrighted. Information is a tonic we can all share with one another. I am humbled by what all of you have written and that is all I can hope for.

To all of you who have expressed an interest in sharing what I have written with others, my answer is GO FOR IT. The more the merrier and, with Divine guidance, by your interest somewhere, somehow it will make a positive difference.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

I am what I am today because of the foresight, wisdom and
generosity of the American people, the legacy of our forefathers, and their
undying belief and faith in the fundamental concept of “equality and justice
for all.” Within that system of beliefs
is the essence of what we once envisioned for us all, only to have cast it to
the winds in exchange for a hedonistic and materialistic lifestyle that is
consuming all of the greatness we once cherished and for which we fought so
valiantly. All of those virtues we
cherished and which we held out as a beacon for the rest of the world are
evaporating into the mists of time. As they
become only a fading memory I ask myself and my fellow Americans, what are we
getting in return? There is no answer
but the hollow and empty sounds of the nothingness we have become.

I am grateful that I came from a better time and only wish
we could collectively visit and rekindle the priceless value we saw in them and
for which we so willingly and generously sacrificed.

There is no pain in anything within us that we freely give for
the sake of us all and a better future for those yet to come after us. It asks no real sacrifice of what we have,
but it does reward us for that which we so willingly share and give to others. That is what comes from mediocrity and
selfishness within us when we place it on the alter of our common welfare and
decency.

I came from a modest background. I am from a working-class home in Wyoming where I graduated from Hot SpringsCountyHigh School in
Thermopolis in 1954. My first job was that of a soda jerk that helped to keep bread on the table at home
until I graduated and set out to see the world on my own.

I enlisted in the United States Navy in 1954, completed Boot
Camp and ServiceSchool
at the U.S. Naval Training Center in San
Diego. Upon
graduation, I was assigned to the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. My next assignment was to a fleet tanker for the remainder of my tour before being discharged in Long Beach, California
in 1958. All of this was a gift freely
given to me by the American people for my own welfare and what was to be
returned in kind after I had reaped the benefit of those with the vision and
generosity and who had the foresight to see it as an investment in my own individual
and our collective future.

Thanks to the G.I. Bill,
I enrolled and was accepted as a freshman at San Jose State College. Two years later, I was accepted for admission
to the University of California at Berkeley
and received my Bachelor of Science Degree two years later. With the benefit of the largess of the
United States Government, I was accepted for a graduate fellowship and later received my Master of Public
Health Degree from U.C. Berkeley, as well.

I chose Hospital Administration as my profession in life,
which proved to be the most ill-conceived choice I could have made. But, it was a fast track to the top and a
respectable salary for one whose roots were still very much anchored in the sod of Wyoming. Lesson to be learned was “never go for the gold; always go for whatever is best for the common good and wherever your
heart and head take you.”

Sadly, after wasting all that time and effort playing the
role of a healthcare executive, I finally listened to the wisdom of a few
cherished friends and realized that my real calling was to the written
word. As to the veracity of that
pathway, those few real friends were right on the mark and I was way off. But, sometimes that is life, isn't it?

My Dad often said the saddest thing a man can do with his
life is to have to admit, “If I had all to do over again.” Truer words were never spoken. If I could go back and do it all over again,
I would have set my sights on the School of Journalism at U.C. Berkeley; rather than the School of Public Health. With the
benefit of hindsight I am inclined to think I might have made a respectable career
had I taken the “road less traveled.”

My first “real job” out of college was in San Francisco and it was, to be quite honest,
a love affair at first sight. I just
don’t see how anyone with a sense of romance in his being can ever quite forget
time spent in “Baghdad
by the Bay,” to quote Herb Caen. The
mystique of all that city is and ever has been captures your very soul. There is no other way to describe it.

One of the first things that gripped me in that wonderful
city of Cable Cars
and hills was the plethora of real journalists who became famous by simply
courting and wooing all that “The City” had to offer. The San Francisco Chronicle had the best
cadre of columnists of any newspaper in the business. There was a running contest as to who was
“the best,” but each had his trade mark.
Who can ever forget the aura of The City created by Herb Caen, Charles
McCabe and Stanton Delaplane, all capped off with a dollop of Sally Stanford,
Melvin Belli and Carol Doda? It just
doesn't get any better than that.

I have to admit that I favored Charles McCabe, perhaps
because of his background and the tempering of his Irish Background that was
his heritage. There is something special
about a real Irishman, I have to admit.

So, here I sit having retired from health care and staring
over the precipice of what will soon be eighty years of travelling the old sod
of this earth we all inhabit. Did I make
the most of what was given to me? Not
one bit. Do I regret those roads never
taken? In spades!

When I hung up my yoke of a hospital administrator, I
returned home and decided I would have a go at writing a blog. It was like returning a very thirsty fish to
fresh water. I was finally where I
belonged. I started writing a blog in
2006 and I have posted 192 since I started writing. Not bad for an old bird peering at the coming
sunset on life.

I have on my desk four books that I shall cherish for the
rest of my life. One was copyrighted in
1970. One was copyrighted in 1973. One was copyrighted in 1974 and the last of
the collection was copyrighted in 1984.

I have yet to read one of those books from cover to
cover. Why? Because they were all written by one Charles
McCabe ESQ, whose facility with the English Language and the ability to charm
and inspire the least among us has no equal.
I do, however, thumb through them, from time to time, just to remind
myself of how great poignant prose can be and its affect on my very soul. I find it almost addictive. To not share this rare treasure with a world
starving from a diet of all that has been produced by computer technology at
the expense of real writing is, in my opinion, downright obscene and blatantly
shameful to the detriment of us all.

San Francisco
has been co-opted by some of the most shallow, tainted and vulgar people on
earth. They have no sense of the taste
real writers give to us and to the world in which we live. Instead, they revel in their ill-gotten gains
of fabulous wealth. They have bought up
one of the greatest cities in the world for their own self-indulgence,
callously disenfranchising some of the poorest among us for their own insatiable
greed and gluttonous appetites for more, more and more! Where is the civility in all this, I ask
you? I have yet to see a crumb. They seem to be impervious to the fact that
they have disemboweled a national treasure for the sake of greed. Those of that ilk should, in my opinion, go
back to Los Angeles, Houston, Manhattan and other such environs so those few
remaining aesthetics can live in and savor what our ancestors (in their
infinite wisdom) created for and bequeathed to the rest of us.

The greatness of these United States of America is on
life-support for no other reason than the predatory nature of all those who
steal favors from the working class in order to further lace their pockets with
great wealth for their own indulgence.
If that isn't downright evil, I don’t know what is. The final justice to all this is that The
Grim Reaper waits for us all and it is a date with destiny that none of us can
avoid. The clock keeps ticking.

I recently wrote to the publisher of the four books by
Charles McCabe ESQ and published by Chronicle
Books in San Francisco, only to have my letter returned unopened. I can only presume the books are no longer in
print. However, be assured I seek no
personal gain from sharing these treasures with my readers. They are just too good to allow them to be
tucked away from prying eyes only to gather dust from those who could only be
moved and treasured by their love of good prose.

For those of you who might enjoy adding these books to your
collection, I am sure you would have no trouble finding copies from book
dealers and other like sources. You will
be glad you did. After all, life is short.

Yes, there were better days and better people who preceded us, all of which we seem to totally disregard in our gluttonous pursuits of today that seduce us into believing that all we covet is somehow euphemistically superior. Such is our modern-day folly. Meanwhile, Our Creator weeps.

The other day some flipping sociologist or other came out
with some flipping survey or other which concluded that the poor aren't popular
in this country. The elaboration of the
obvious is almost the

name of the sociologists’ game. They set out to prove that black is black,
and there is always a

grant somewhere, to endow this dauntless quest.

I spent my life growing up poor, and I can tell you that it
is no fun. There was no welfare and no
food stamps when my family was poor, save the occasional and shaming handout
from the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Our poverty wasn’t grinding poverty, because none of us had
ever known any better. My parents came
from the bogs of Cavan and Longford, where their parents had often slept in
bins with the pigs. I knew nothing about
any world other than my own except occasionally from rumors in the tabloids
about the lives of people like Daddy Browning and John D. Rockefeller. I really didn’t believe there were any rich
people. Your wisdom is your
experience.

None the less, I new I was poor and this was in the
fabulously affluent 1920’s. I knew it
and I know it still, and there is nothing on God’s acre that angers me more
than people who get angry with people because they don’t have money.

I know all about the shiftless poor, some of whom aren’t
poor at all, who collect welfare in three or four countries, and are more or
less a criminal elite. But the welfare
system cannot be b lamed or the poor, worthy or shiftless, crooked or
honest. The kind of people who seem most
to deplore the abuses of welfare are the children for whom the system began to
be created, in the Depression days of FDR.
Ronald Reagan was a poor kid, and he has turned into a holy horror on
the subject of the poor.

The survey mentioned above said Americans associate poverty
with “moral failure.” Poor people are
not loved by their non-poor contemporaries because they cost money and threaten
the work ethic.

I have a firm and old-fashioned belief in free will, but
there is damned little free will about who is rich and who is poor. A lot of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans and
Nicaraguans are poor not because of any inherent incapability of being rich but
because they do not possess adequately the language of this country, and
because they look funny. A lot of blacks
are poor just because they are black.

Someone said to someone else that the rich are different
from us because they have money. The
poor, and those who have been poor, are a helluva lot more different from us
than that. The next worst thing to being
destitute is being compelled to live off charity. If you have ever undergone the experience,
and I did so for years as a child, you are never going to forget it.

Even to this day, one of the greatest sins in the world for
me is throwing away money. If there are
any people in the world I loathe, it is the lavish tipper, the big spender, the
guy who puts hundred dollar bills in the hands of head waiters so that he can
feel secure for an hour or two. I even
get mad at people who leave food on their plates; even when the person is, as
occasionally happens, myself.

Being smug and righteous about the “moral failure” of the
poor is something I hope I have never been, and do indeed hope I shall never
be. I have been there, and I don’t want
to go there again. Being outside looking
in is not the greatest fun in this damned world.

Being non-poor is mostly luck, as practically everything
else is. My luck has run well in the
adult years of my life. My children and
grandchildren almost certainly never will know poverty, and that is something. But I knew it, and shall never forget it, and
that is something. But I knew it, and
shall never forget it, and I daresay the reason I am writing these words is to
assure that I shall never forget it. The
poor are our brothers.

****

May the wisdom of Charles McCabe ESQ always be with us, to teach
us, to inspire us and to bring out the best in us.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

“Elizabeth Warren Is the Real Deal; Hillary Clinton Is the Great
Pretender”

We Americans are a strange lot in many ways. For reasons that I cannot explain, we seem to
have an ingrained need to create idols in our minds to which we ascribe the
mantle of celebrity. That in turn, gives
them the license to engage in all sorts of deceptive behavior which we not only
covet, we swallow hook, line and sinker.
I never cease to be disappointed in myself when I fall for that same
line, and vow to be more
perceptive in the future. But, like so
many of us born under the red, white and blue, that vow always seems to elude
me. So much for indomitable will and
personal resolve.

No one in recorded history was so taken by the persona of
Barack Obama as when he gave that great speech to the Democratic National
Convention. I was absolutely certain
that he was a leader that had been sent from heaven to save the world. You have to admit, he gave new meaning to the
word “charisma.”

However, in the intervening years the luster has faded and I
am able to see and hear what he is really all about. He may look and sound good, but at the end of
the day I am persuaded those who have
him pegged correctly are right. He is a
fraud. He is nothing but an illusion of
what we want to believe, not the real deal.
He is not a leader. Rather, he is
a seducer of those who want or need to use him for their own ends. That explains why he is the darling of every
huckster who wants to make a quick buck by sweet-talking the average American
out of what should be rightfully his and passing it on to those who only get
fatter and richer off of his ability to pander to those who simply want more
from those who have so little to give.
And, moreover, no one ever calls him on it!

Look at how cozy he is with Jaime Diamond and his cohorts on
Wall Street and in the financial sector of our economy. Look at how he panders to the advocates of
free trade, the oil and coal industries, Prime Minister Harper of Canada, big
defense contractors, the fat cats who are in a race to ship their businesses
overseas for the benefit of tax breaks that only accrue to the detriment of the
working people of the United States.

Look at his penchant for “privatizing” everything for the
benefit of great wealth and unlimited power.
Just take a close look at what he has managed to engineer for our prison
system and education. Now, I ask you, how
are we better off because of those bright ideas? Prisoners are used by the state for cheap
contract labor and our children are given an inferior education all in the name
of making more money for those whose greed knows no limits. Look at the sad state of the entire
infrastructure of the country so billionaires can pay less in taxes and shift
the burden of public services, more and more, to the taxpayers.

I was mesmerized by the recent line up of the richest people
in the United States,
how they are giving most of their money away, not for the benefit of the
taxpayers, but so they can control how their money is spent for the “common
good” whatever that means. It may have
been their money that was going for a greater good, but you can bet your bippy
they will have managed to maintain absolute control over how that money is
spent, and I seriously doubt it will be for the common good!

One of the great benevolent billionaires of our time, Warren
Buffet, who now owns one of the largest rail systems in the country (BNSF) is
sending trains down the Columbia River Gorge and on to the pristine environs of
the Northwestern West Coast, as far as the eye can see, all loaded with
petroleum and coal destined for Asian countries. I rather suspect he will be perceived as the
entrepreneurial genius he has become, all because the polluting energy will not
be burned on our soil and polluting our atmosphere but, rather, that part of
the equation will occur halfway around the world. The prize in all this is the ability to boast
that the pollution is the fault of the consumer of those products. All we are doing is making a quick buck from
the process – the spirit of free trade.
Give me a break! But, the local
politicos are just lapping up the promises and the prospect of “bringing jobs
to the Northwest.” Go figure.

The latest to catch my eye is the current search for a
permanent home for the Obama Family when it finally becomes reality that they
have managed to funnel all they can respectably take after the mantle of
“President” sinks in for the long haul.
It is reputed they are looking at an opulent place in Rancho Mirage in
the California Desert that would be fitting, not so much for what they are but
what they have become. The place they
ostensibly have in their sights used to be the luxurious residence of the
Annenberg Dynasty, one of the richest men on the planet at the time he built
it. But, I supposed it would be asking
too much to expect the newest graduates of the White House to settle for
anything less. But, they do like money,
power, prestige and prominence, don’t they?

Bill, Hillary and the cadre of adoring admirers that became
the legion of power and influence during their years in government were great
mentors for the Obama’s. The mere fact
that they would select the Arkansas
alums and their lot for their role models tells us all we need to know.

Let me pose a few salient questions for us to contemplate:

1.Wealth and power do not equal preferential treatment at
the expense of the common good.

2.Elected officials are there to serve the people; not
vice versa. They work for us and they should
take their marching orders from us!

3.The cowboy mentality and renegade posturing we revere
and emulate do not make us any better than the rest of the world, despite what
we may want to believe.

4.Republicans are not ordained by God. They may think so but, at the end of the day,
they are simply intoxicated by some false belief that God is on their
side.

5.Democrats do not have a corner on what is deemed
progressive. They just like to think so
but, in the end, all that gives them is the license to steal less conspicuously
than Republicans.

6.Words and phrases that may suggest a common good and a
common future are not subversive nor do they undermine the viability of the
country.

7.Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as vulgarity and
poor taste. Just because Mommy and Daddy
think there is something magical about their private parts does not make it so. There is such a thing as human decency and
good behavior that trumps that myth.

8.Money does not make the person. The person makes the money and it is for the
good of everyone, not just a select few who have managed to delude themselves into
believing that it gives them preferred status in society.

9.To work harder, longer hours and for less money does
not diminish the stature of those who labor under those conditions. They have just as much merit in the eyes of
Our Creator as any other human being.
Work is honest and noble. Stealing,
pillaging and plundering are not.

10.Democratic Socialism is not a dirty term. It is a democratic form of government that is
there to serve the people and to make society a better and more equitable place
to live. The Scandinavian Countries
proved that a long time ago and it remains one of the most viable and sanest
forms of government in the world today.

11.This planet we fondly call “Mother Earth” belongs
equally to all of us. No one has
squatter’s rights despite harboring a false belief that they do.

12.We are here as custodians of this country and all it
has to offer its citizens.

13.We are not here to save the world at our expense. That is a common obligation we share with
others, equally.

14.Wishing will not make it so. Hard work, integrity, decency, honesty, fair
play, and a common concern for each other will.

In the final analysis only the collective “we” can make this
one of the “Greatest Countries on Earth,” as can every other citizen of every
other country can and should do for themselves.

Frankly, I think our system of government has outlived its
usefulness. It is not there to serve us
all, equally, but to facilitate the dubious ambitions of those elected to
office by those who still harbor the notion that there is such a thing as
“equality.” The only solution I see as
realistic and feasible is a complete review of what we actually have compared
to what was intended, and then we set ourselves to the task of righting the
wrongs that have occurred since 1776. Ambition
not withstanding, it could and should be done.
The question is are we up to the task and are we up to the cost of
making it a new reality for the welfare of all of us?

Given what I see as a prevailing malaise that is endemic
within us as a once determined and proud people, I seriously doubt that we have
the will or the means to be sufficiently honest to set ourselves to the task
and make it really happen. Perhaps the
pundits that see nothing but folly in that notion are right. Maybe our reality is that while we may be watching
Nero tune his violin yet again, our modern day Rome is in the process of simply preparing to
incinerate itself all over again and right before our very eyes. Then what do we do?

By turning against each other and ourselves we may be
setting the stage for the Great American Dream to simply evaporate before our
very eyes. That would be the ultimate
tragedy, wouldn’t it?

Which of the two would best fit in the Oval Office? Elizabeth Warren or Hillary Clinton? If my memory serves me correctly, I believe
Walt Disney said it best; The Lady and the Tramp. Nothing more needs to be said.

Monday, November 3, 2014

We had a long, hot and dry summer this year, which is
unusual for the Pacific Northwest. But, the autumnal rains are back with us and
refreshing this part of the world as only they can. It is nice to step out the door and have the
misty rain brush my face again. It has a
way of saying that the world is still turning on its axis and, yes, there may still
be hope for the human race that may yet salvage that which we seem to have done
so much to destroy. Yet, so much of what
we see and hear, the pursuits of modern man to own and consume more than is
humanly possible, plus the panoply of trash, vulgarity and the exploitation of
the human race that passes for entertainment gives pause to stop and rethink
that fleeting moment of faint hope.

Given all that swirls around my head tells me that all of
what we savor in this modern-day world is only a cruel illusion. It only has the appearance of getting better
and will soon fade from reality to be replaced by something even worse. What once used to shock us now entertains
us. What used to instill confidence and
trust in us is now scorned as something from a bygone era that has no relevance
to what we covet at the moment.

We routinely accept as commonplace that which used to stun
the average person. Moral standards used
to govern our behavior which made what we were acceptable, noble and an example
for others to emulate. Now, anything
goes. Nothing shocks us or is off
limits. It seems to be whatever the
traffic will bear. It doesn’t matter how
toxic it is, so long as it has popular appeal.
All I care about is if it is selling in the broader marketplace. I have to have it; I want it. Tell me, not what I need to know, but what I
want to hear and, moreover, what I must believe in order to be a part of the
“in crowd” at the moment.

The most egregious of all is, of course, the conduct of
those who covet great wealth, the entire political establishment and the
insatiable greed, the preponderance of which they all covet without
limits. They belong to the same club
that enables all of the others to pillage and plunder with no shame. I suppose, however, that as long as you are
doing nothing worse than those who make up your moral, social and economic
strata there is probably little left to shock anyone. So, why not go for the gold? Who is going to care?

The most powerful and least expensive option we the people
have to use at our disposal is the vote.
Somehow, there was little real interest or a genuine commitment to
participating in that exercise this year.
There seems to be a malaise among us that has dulled our senses and any
feeling that we have the power and will to do something about what is happening
to us. The forces of evil that are
hell-bent on reducing the majority of us to a status little more than that of
indentured servitude appear to have won without so much as a whimper from those
they seek to enslave by their greed and total disregard for the common good of
the country and, yes, all of those who have and continue to work for the
welfare of us all.

We seem to have reached the point where we have either
failed to reign in the excesses that hobble us in our efforts to make this a
better country, or have simply chosen to let them win the war with only a faint
hope that they will do the rest of us justice.
Now, I ask you, just how naïve is that?

In more years than I can accurately count, the series of
administrations and governments in Washington, D.C. have simply set in motion
the means to plunder the wealth and resources of this nation for the welfare of
the super-rich and for those who don’t even slow down in their pursuit of
garnering as much of the nation’s wealth as they can for themselves, while taking
care of all those who want to dismantle our industrial base, ship it overseas
and leave the rest of us without jobs and the means to make a better life for
those we love and cherish, all of whom are dependent on our labors.

We, the people of these United States, have been betrayed
by all of those who campaigned for the offices they hold, and they have made
solemn promises to all of us who cast votes for them with the sincere belief that they would be people of their word.

The Presidency betrayed us.
Every member of those administrations sold out to big money, large
corporations and their interests, investment brokers and big banks at the
expense of those who believed in them and supported them in our names. Not one of them went to prison for the heinous
crimes they committed with total disregard for what they were doing to us, and
plundering our resources in order to do it.
Since then it has only gotten worse and, with all we see before us, it
is only going to get worse. They totally
disregarded their oaths of office and set themselves to the tasks of pillage
and plunder of all we had in order to build a better future for us and for the
welfare of the country. The two most
notable alumni from those years, Bill and Hillary, didn’t even slow down their
quest to further enhance their spoils and the good life that was before
them. Yet, those who fail to take the
time and effort to study them and their history still adore and revere them. Hillary for President? The wide-eyed liberals who are on that track
better wake up to reality before the bell tolls on that one!

In my opinion, the most glaring and worst betrayal of the
American people and the government institutions they have built and supported,
historically, has to be the Supreme Court.
If I had to fault one aspect of the wisdom of the Founding Fathers it
would be the naïve notion that, somehow, lifetime appointments were good for
the country. It doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to realize that is stacking the deck against us, the people, by not
insisting on term limits for the robed elites who have totally decimated any
notion of meaningful “checks and balances,” by their blatant disemboweling of
our election laws embodied in Citizens United, for starters. I shudder to think what may yet be coming
down on our heads that would further chain us to the oars in the lifeboats in
our next futile attempt to keep the ship afloat. Don’t hold your breath. Compassion and charity appear to be two of
the characteristics least likely to be seriously considered in their collective
efforts on behalf of the American people.
Lifetime appointments simply work to the detriment of the governed. It is time to rethink that folly.

No Democracy can work effectively for all the citizens of
the country unless everyone pays their fair share of the taxes that support our
common efforts. Joseph Stieglitz and
Bill Black, two veterans in the field of Economics and distinguished scholars
have both made that case extremely well.

Another chronic error we make, as a people, is the ingrained
laziness so many of us have that precludes any real effort on our parts to know what is going on by applying a bit
of hard work to understand the issues of our time, rather than simply seeking
nothing more than telling us what we
want to hear. It just isn’t that
easy.

I would be quite surprised if a national survey did not
reveal that most people in this country actually believe there are only two
political parties; Republicans and Democrats.
Did it ever occur to any one that they both work, hand in hand, to lace
the pockets and confer power, equally, into the pockets and coffers of both of
those parties, all of which we pay dearly for each and every day of our lives,
while they, being the fat cats they are, only get richer and garner more perks
at our expense for the lives they lead?
It happens all the time and no one seems to give a toads bottom that it never stops!

Just take a breather for a moment. Can you imagine what it would do for this
country if all the money that the privileged and bandit classes in Washington
and New York skim off the spoils of what they have at their disposal (and with
our tacit approval) were applied to rebuilding the infrastructure of this
country? Moreover, can you imagine what
it would do towards dispelling the concerns about climate change and global
warming that are coming down on our collective heads at meteoric speed because
of our persistent state of denial about those two issues?

Did it ever occur to anyone that the United States of America
may not have all the answers to the salient questions of our day? Did it ever occur to any of us that there may
be better political parties and collective ideas to solve our problems that we
have not taken the time and effort to study and seriously consider?

Has it ever occurred to any of us that our renegade
mentality and self-styled notions of superiority have only further deluded us
into thinking we are the only ones in God’s Creation who might have a better
idea or two on how to produce a better mouse trap?

When are we going to wake up to the fact that the world is
not just about ME AND YOU, but about US?

There can, and should be, more than just two political
parties. There should be a panoply of
ideas for better ways to accomplish all we want, that would serve us all better
and be more efficient and effective than the smorgasbord we suffer each and
every day of our lives by catering to and pandering to the hoards of thieves we
now defer to as our “government” such as it is.

Did it ever occur to any of us that the Scandinavian
Countries have more effective governments that serve all the people, yet still have the wherewithal to support viable
economies and social programs for the benefit of all their citizens?

I don’t think it is out of the question for us to look
beyond our borders and see how others address and solve many of the similar
problems we face each and every day. And
they do it by taxing everyone and without the need for each of them to carry
guns in their pockets. It can be done! Yes, the spoils of what we produce can be
shared equally for the benefit of everyone without any one or a few “having it
all.”

We need to start with public financing of elections, a
multi-party system and a fair and equal tax applied to everyone. A further caveat on those few items might be
to start divesting ourselves of the need to be protectors of the world and let
a few of those others start fending for themselves at their expense rather than
ours.

Has not the time come to tax our brains rather than just
stimulating our hormones? I think
so.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Given a long and arduous problem with Century Link, plus
some pressing family issues, it has been sometime since I sat down and wrote a
serious blog. For those of you who have
persevered, I am honored by your loyalty.

As I have witnessed the progress (if you can call it that)
of the United States of America and where it is going to eventually lead us, I
can understand why there seems to be a climate analogous to a state of
apathy. But, easy as it is to
understand, there is a haunting sense of despair and hopelessness that I find
almost frightening. We seem to have
given up on so many pressing and important issues which lead me to remind
myself that nothing in this world is easy.

As I survey the layout of every aspect of what this country
is all about and what it is supposed to be doing for those who proudly call
themselves “American,” I cannot help but ask myself, “Where has the real
America gone, and for how long?”

There was a time in our history when we accepted that we had
to face challenges from time to time but, on the other hand, there was always a
sense that things would get better and we would be back in the swing of
things. That doesn’t seem to be
happening anymore.

I cannot recall a time when we have taken such a cavalier
attitude towards the manifestation of so many or the least virtuous aspects of our
human nature. People are murdered as if
there is no conscience within the perpetrators.
Children and pets are left in motor vehicles with temperatures that
snuff the life right out of them, by adults who know full well what they are
doing. There is no end to the crimes
that are being committed, only to be summarily dismissed by those who bear the
guilt. The very moral fabric of what we
have treasured and respected as virtues of mankind are no longer relevant. It seems as if the credo we live by is, “Do
whatever you want; who cares?”

That we have a massively corrupt political and economic
system is self-evident. It is not
subtle, it is blatant and we just seem to yawn, shrug our shoulders and say to
ourselves and to those who will listen, so what is the big deal?

Not one banker or financier has been tried and sent to
prison for anything he did, and continues to do, in the wake of the last “great
recession.” None of them were held to
account for their egregious failure to take appropriate action, supported by
law, and to do all they could to act within the spirit of that law. Instead, the taxpayers of this country were
saddled with the cost of bailing them out, the political establishment passed
legislation that was, at best, a very soft slap on the wrist and the green
light to simply go after more of the taxpayers money! Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, do you stand for
anything? You ought to hang your heads
in shame before every voter and citizen of this country. Instead, you live like fat cats and only lace
your pockets with more money that does not, nor never did, belong to you. Are we to presume that this is the prize for
living the good life on the banks of the Potomac?

Let us not forget the less subtle efforts of the likes of
Barack Obama, Timothy Geithner, Larry Summers, Bill Clinton, the Moguls of Wall
Street, the club of Billionaires and the legions of enablers in every corner of
government in the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the
Federal Reserve Bank, the Supreme Court and the massive array of all the
lobbyists and insiders, none of whom give a hoot in hell about the average
American.

Then there are the lesser known minions within the system,
as well. There are those who own and
control the press, the electronic news media, the entertainment industries, plus
the scions of business and industry too numerous to count.

There is the monopolistic two-party system that has managed
to convince the body politic that we are a real democracy of the people rather
than the reality of the plutocracy of the super rich that own and control every
aspect of our lives. And we so willingly
offer up whatever pittance they dare to claim as if they were somehow
descendants of the deity that created the universe.

Wake up America! Are you aware that two of the largest
repositories of gold in the world are China
and Russia? And we think we are “the wealthiest and most
powerful nation on earth? Get real. How does that square with our mantra and the
massive amounts of money that is squirreled away off-shore? How does this fit with the fact that the
plutocrats pay practically no taxes (thanks to those who so willingly aid and
abet them in government)?

Why are working-class Americans and labor unions under
constant assault because they want a fair share of the pie and the same
considerations that are so willingly given to the super-rich barons that cry about
over-taxation and the impending inability to compete in a fair market? All of this as our infra-structure crumbles
before our very eyes. All this as they
continue to ship jobs overseas while those who labor for a living sink deeper
into the mire of poverty, rely on food banks to survive, go without healthcare
and their kids are unable to get a better education because of the massively
huge interest rates charged for student loans by the government.

Now, let us take a long and hard look at society, in
general.

Our appetites are created and fed by the huge and
uncontrolled entertainment industries, the advertising businesses, the erosion
of a moral base to guide us, millions of automatons who are no longer able to
converse with one another as they clamor for the next electronic device from
Silicon Valley so they can further numb down their minds and paralyze their
brains.

Basic reproduction, which we share with all other mammals,
is no longer possible without the aid of chemical enhancements that will
guarantee an erection on demand.
Moreover, we now have products on the market that will neutralize the
odor of the feminine equivalent, no doubt so it will be more acceptable to
those who have more exotic pleasures in mind.

Are you aware, as of now, that the new homes of today are,
on average, larger than they have ever been in the history of the United States? Just take the time to peruse the Real Estate
Section in the Sunday Section of your local newspaper.

Where is our real commitment to saving the planet through
more prudent use of carbon fuels? Just
look at the BNSF trains, owned by one of our most benevolent billionaires,
transporting massive amounts of coal and oil from the East and Upper Midwest to
the West Coast to be loaded onto ships for transport to the Orient, primarily China. Do those who are doing this to our
environment honestly think we buy into the notion that all of that coal and
oil, burned in the Orient, will pollute only their atmosphere while ours
remains squeaky clean and will do no harm to the air we breathe? It may be pretty to think so but, as Scarlet
O’Hara famously said, “Fiddle Dee Dee.
I’ll think about that tomorrow.”
And that, America,
is just what we will do. You can bet
those getting rich because of this mindset already know what the outcome will
be. Meanwhile, this “greatest nation in
the world” is crumbling right before our eyes.

This nation was created and sustained by the blood, sweat
and tears of people from every corner of the world and every place on the
globe. Their blood was shed on domestic
and foreign lands to ensure the survival and prosperity of this bastion of
freedom in the world today, such as it is.
From my perspective it needs a tune-up and a reassessment of just how we
handle and market what we have to offer to our own and to those from foreign
lands.

If all citizens are Americans, how come we have “Native”
Americans, “White” Americans, “African” Americans, “Latin” Americans, and all
sorts of other Americans distinctly identified by the countries from which they
or their ancestors came, or the color of their skin? Why are “White” Americans not offended by the
absence of “Heinz 57 Americans?” Why do
we have and perpetuate this disparity?
Frankly, I disagree with those distinctions and I find it offensive by the
fact that we use them every day just to separate those of color and other
cultures from the vestigial remnants of those of fair skin who came here to
expropriate the lands that rightfully belonged to those indigenous to what was
already here?

Why is it that those euphemistically referred to as
“Indians, Redskins and “Native” Americans have always been relegated to remote
areas of the country and to some of the poorest and least fertile land to be
had? Why have they, of all people, been isolated
in remote areas and forced to live in squalid surroundings with little more
than what was considered a “shack,” while others of European heritage were
welcomed with open arms? Why were so
many of them forced to walk hundreds of miles so their vacated homelands could
be re-settled by White Americans? Why
has their only chance for a quality education been relegated largely to missionaries,
churches and other charitable organizations?
Why have their lives been located in some of the most remote and hostile
geography in the country? Why were they
isolated and kept at a level of ignorance so they could be kept as second-class
citizens better known as “savages,” with little or no opportunity to be
integrated or exposed to those referred to “Whites?” To this very day the majority of them are
living in isolated parts of the country known as “reservations.”

(I am still inclined to believe that there is something to
the notion that the Indian Service harbored a secret agenda to ultimately
render them irrelevant so they would not have had to be reckoned with, and the
spoils of what they claimed as theirs would be there for the asking.) We have done as bad or worse more than once
in our history.

There is no economic base from which to forge a decent
standard of living and the skills needed to compete in today’s modern
world. Where are the resources,
knowledge and means from mega-corporations to lift these people from the
poverty that has become the only life they have ever known? Or were their jobs shipped overseas to
cheaper labor markets so the tribal leaders could make more money by
contracting them to foreign powers?

Who conceived of the idea of bringing “Bra ceros” into fertile
pockets of agriculture in the United States to work long hours in blistering
environments, forced to live in makeshift shelters, paid a mere pittance so a
more affluent and distant part of our society could enjoy some of the finest
produce grown and available at bargain prices?
Who among us made the fortunes that came from the backs of not only the
adults, but the children, as well? Why
did we come to resent them just because they felt they deserved a better share
of the spoils? Who said this was not and
is not “slave” labor? Moreover, why did
our own government not prohibit this blatant exploitation of the human
condition? Where was the hollow oratory
in Washington, D.C. condemning the way they were treated. Moreover, where was the hue and cry over the
massive amounts of money they made for being good minions to those who put them
in office?

Who, I ask you, coined the phrase, “Liberty and Justice for All?” When one reflects on that for just a fleeting
few moments, it has a rather hollow ring, doesn't it?

From my perspective, all of those who live in lavish homes,
drive luxury cars, live sordid lives, engage in all sorts of obscene and vulgar
behavior contribute very little to the common good of this country. Their primary fixation seems to be more on
what they appear to be rather than on what they are. Image is more important than substance.

If we are to become what we allege to be for the consumption
of the rest of the world, we have a lot of work to do. We need to be what we say we are, and we must
disparage that which we abhor. We need
to have a sense of basic human decency; a sense of what is right vs. what is
wrong. We need to be less moved by what
others think and do than what we know to be honest and what we know to be just.

I can empathize with the hoards of people crossing our
Southern Borders, seeking a better life.
But I am disturbed by those who claim a higher purpose in life and summarily
dismissing the cost to our country, our economy and our way of life by ignoring
that there is no bottom to the cornucopia (translated to mean, “As long as I
have mine, I can afford to claim virtue by championing those who have nothing.”

For those who seem to have conveniently forgotten that a
price was paid, many times over, for what we hold near and dear to our hearts
in so many ways, and take for granted every waking moment of our lives. They need to take all of those who sneak
across our boarders to savor the “free lunch” here for the taking, so they can take
an excursion in order to view the thousands of graves created by the carnage of
WWI and WWII all across the globe. Then
tell them that is the price for what they are trying to savor, but for which
they have never paid the price. Remind
them that they need to go back to their countries of origin and do what it
takes in order to pay the same price for what they want from us free
gratis.

There is a limit to how much of our national resources we
can summarily give away at the expense of all of those unseen and lesser beings
in our ranks who live from paycheck to paycheck, if they are lucky, or far less
if they are not. How much longer can we
delude ourselves into believing “it will never happen to us?” We have no alternative but to take care of
the least among us first. That should be
a given.

Perhaps our massively huge, bloated and wealthy corporations
whose gluttony is never satisfied, plus the military/industrial complex, could
pony up the spoils from their favored position in our economy to support the
cost of what it would take to change all of the despotic dictatorships into
bastions of freedom for all of the citizens of their country.

I dare say all of those who have been out of work for more
years than they can count would favor such a move. Then let us not forget all of those who
frequent food banks, shelters for the homeless and displaced, students who are
and continue to carry massive debits in order to pay for a college education that
should be rightfully theirs as a birthright.

We could probably afford a national health system that would
be the envy of the world.

We could probably afford a real social security system that
would sustain those who have worked a lifetime only to be allocated a pittance in
order to eek out a living in our world of monumental growth in fortunes,
personal wealth, corporate power, and corrupt financial and investment
institutions.

We could probably afford a cesspool of all kinds of
diversionary activities that range from visceral pleasures, getting legally
stoned on a buffet of hallucinogenic drugs and other mind altering substances
that convince us we are something we are not.

There would be no limit to the number of “name brand” items
we could afford, more house than we need, the latest energy-inefficient motor
cars that we covet, not for transportation, but for the sheer hedonistic joy of
being able to flirt with the notion that we do, indeed, have it all. We can and will be able to rest assured that
those who have less will be green with envy at all we have. What more could one want?

We could live a life of complete indulgence, the limits to
our decadence and depravity be damned.
We could even re-define our deity on our own terms and in keeping with what
we have become.

In the end, we could mock every symbol that might convey a
sense of morality, decency and equality that we have ever known. The world would then be ours. We could indulge our every appetite with
abandon. We would be all that we ever
wanted to be and we would not have a clue as to how to right all those wrongs
that have come back to not only haunt us, but to own our very souls (for those
who believe in such things).

Then, as in days gone by, the curtain would come down and we
would see ………………

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

I cannot recall a time in my life when I have been witness
to such an intellectual wasteland or the numbing of the human mind as has been
set before us by the need for the American people to be passively entertained
and the conscious choice to live in a state of self-imposed ignorance. That is not only pathetic, it is an
indictment of what we could and should be as a people. Has not the time come for us to revisit the
joys of original thought and dismiss the trite and meaningless nonsense that we
accept as “fun,” and pursue with such vigor?

Permit me to list just a few of what we have incorporated
into our daily lives.

·We willingly allow the oligarchs and those who
serve as their minions in government and industry to pillage and plunder the
wealth of the nation for their own benefit by fostering subservience from the
very systems that should be there to serve the needs and interests of the
people of the United States. They own and control every branch and agency
of our government, minimize and denigrate any actions that may be taken for the
benefit and welfare of the citizens of this country in favor of reducing their
obligations to society and reducing the needs of the broader social order. The rich just get richer and the poor get
even poorer. That is the new mantra of
what we have become. If that is not
really what we want for this country, then why in the world don’t we change the
system, and reign in the excesses they claim and which are fostered by those
elected to serve us, the people? They
pollute our environment at will while dismissing the warnings of science and
the perils to come by their blatant greed at the expense of the planet.

·We have completely abandoned any notion that we,
the people, have a solemn duty and responsibility to hold our government
accountable to us for what they do for us and to us because they have set
themselves above the law and the will of the people.

·We have allowed Bill “Fellatio” Clinton, Phil
Gramm, Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, and Alan Greenspan to deregulate major
financial interests in order to favor bankers, financiers and hedge fund
managers at the expense of the American people and the viability of the
financial institutions put there to better serve the body politic.

·The Obama Administration bailed out renegade
banks and other financial institutions at the expense of the taxpayers and at
reduced rates of interest, for problems they, not we, created! Moreover, he tacitly gave his approval for
the massive and sustained “interest free loans” to failed banks by the Chairman
of the Federal Reserve.

·The Obama Administration has favored reduced
rates on income tax and other forms of taxation for wealthy benefactors, the
movement of offshore funds in order to reduce their tax liabilities and has
favored big business, corporate capitalists and other entrepreneurs to further
reduce their tax rates while the average American has labored to meet their tax
obligations.

·The Obama Administration has favored big energy
companies, free trade agreements and other forms of subsidies to various
industrial enterprises, again at the expense of the average American.

·We revere and defer to the military and
intelligence services as if they were royalty and touched by the hand of
God. To question them and their motives
is almost an affront to the sanctity of all they profess to be and do for our
collective benefit. Sez who?

·We have bought into the “privatization” of every
conceivable kind of public service as inherently good, less expensive and far
superior to anything that might accrue to our benefit by the efforts and work
of public servants. If so, why are the
hucksters of the business and financial worlds in such a hurry to tap into that
lucrative cornucopia of profit and greater wealth? That just doesn’t compute.

·Why do we tolerate the massive cost of benefits
and the loss of valuable time by our legislators so they can spend their time
courting the favor of lobbyists, and taking vacations and excursions of various
kinds at taxpayer expense? While the
“working” Americans and lower paid workers envy the perks they so freely
flaunt, they turn a blind eye and go for even more.

·Why do our elected government officials
acquiesce to one-sided actions such as Citizens United by the Supreme Court,
all for the benefit of those who claim their divine right of superiority to rig
elections and the financing of those elections for the rich and famous so they
can buy votes and the attendant benefits for the benefit of their insatiable
greed and material gains?

·Why is there such disparity in the funding of
unemployment benefits, the minimum wage, student loan relief, etc. by the
renegades sitting in the halls of the House and the Senate vs. what should be
given to help all of those seeking honest jobs and bearing the responsibility
for supporting their families with a living wage?

From my perspective, our society has degenerated to a level
where anything goes and we are not embarrassed or shamed by anything. We are mesmerized by electronic gadgets that
enable us to stare blankly into a hand-held device in order to “communicate”
with others without ever having to talk, and to be passively entertained by
every conceivable kind of titillating pleasure known to mankind. How are we any better by ogling at girls with
skirts up to the cheeks of their bottoms, the bare-chested and tight crotches
of men’s clothing, and the use of gutter language as they emulate those who
have managed to peddle that nonsense? Do
we really care to listen to a prolonged discussion about the private parts of
human anatomy and the role those we are watching play in the entire
scenario? What does all that do for our
sense of common decency and what sets us above the sewers from which it
comes?

We are a people who seem to find it attractive to use
acronyms and other forms of abbreviated speech rather than proper language in
order to carry on conversations. We
attach meanings to abbreviated forms of speech and react as if they were somehow
subversive or vulgar, and convey some sort of disdain or prejudice by their
very use.

What comes to your mind when you hear the terms “Working
American,” “Middle Class,” “Service Employee,” “Domestic Worker,” “Manual Laborer,”
etc.? Is there not more dignity to being
a “Working American” than that of a “Senator,” “a Congressman,” a Consultant? Where the former earns an honest day’s pay
for an honest day’s work, the other earns his/hers by peddling knowledge of
dubious value or by letting us know that he/she steals and deceives (with
aplomb) for a living rather than stooping to that of a mere laborer. Who are the more respectable and more noble
in all this?

What comes to your mind when you hear terms such as “Ivy League,”
“San Jose State College,” “Junior College,” “Stanford University,” etc. Does one strike you as superior or inferior
to one of the others? What does that say
about you?

What makes a scion of Silicon Valley
more valuable and respectable than someone who can fix your car, or build your
house, or manage a cattle or sheep ranch, or serve you a well prepared
hamburger in a fast food restaurant? One
works for a living and the other peddles technical expertise of a dubious value
to society in general. Both serve us in
special ways and both are essential to a balanced life for all of us. Why do we revere one more because he/she has
money and the other is just a “working person?”

The nomenclatures we use by the names we attach to political
parties convey a great deal about us and how we view those we put in public
office. What is the essential difference
between a Republican and a Democrat?
Both are accomplished thieves and peddlers of all sorts of deception and
manipulation that most decent people would find offensive.

Did you know that the Presidential Debates to which we are
subjected every four plus years are limited only to those who are candidates
for the Office of President from the Democratic and Republican Parties? Did it ever occur to you that is tantamount
to a two-party political system to which we, the voters, are expected to
subscribe? Who deemed it a two-party
political system to the exclusion of every other qualified candidate who may be
seeking that office? Why should the
candidates from the Green Party, the Justice Party and the Freedom Party all be
barred from participating in those discourses.
Might we, the voters, not learn a great deal more about who could and
would serve us most effectively if we could hear their answers to the important
and salient questions having to do with their occupancy of the Office of the
President? I would think so.

Who deemed it appropriate that we should only have a limited
number of political parties for any and all of our elections for public
office? I have never read where it was
codified as the only option we were to have and, frankly, I think we (and the
country) are the poorer for it.

We Americans seem to have an ingrained disdain for any
political party with the term “social” or “socialist” associated with it. Somehow those terms connote some sort of
subversive element that would surely undermine the purity and sanctity of what
we currently have.

For most of my life I labored by declaring my party of
choice as the Republican Party. With
time and enlightenment, I came to my senses and shifted to the Democratic
Party. My greatest joy in that move was
to have had the privilege of meeting John F. Kennedy. I have had my moments with that political
party, as well. That discomfort has been
largely created by the notion that, somehow, both of those political parties
were more “American,” than others. I no
longer harbor that illusion.

I now pride myself in being a “Social Democrat.” A “Social Democracy” is defined as “a political movement advocating a gradual
and peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism by democratic means.” That suggests to me that we have not done
a very good job of using the proper nomenclature in the use of such terms and
how they might apply to the greater society at large. If the largest segment of our society is that
of the “working” or “middle” classes, does that not suggest also, the greatest
segment of our population is a social class?
If that is the pre-eminent class, then it seems logical for that class
to be occupied by those who claim membership in the largest group of people
dedicated to the health and welfare of society.
That being the case, then why should we be limited to just Democratic,
Republican, Green, Freedom, and Justice Parties, all of which are minority
parties. Why should we not have a
“Social Democratic” party that embraces the largest majority of voters having
the greatest vested interest in a political establishment that would serve the
greatest number of citizens? It would
seem to me that the Scandinavian countries have proven the case rather
well. What is to be gained by
re-inventing the wheel?

Moreover, why should any minority party control the
institutions of government more than any other political party? Would it not be more reasonable and logical
for a socialist democratic party to represent the greatest potential number of
voters in a system that is, ostensibly, there to serve all of the people?

It seems to me that we could make a good start by revisiting
the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, going back to the Constitution and the Bill
of Rights by putting back into place the safeguards that were so wisely
incorporated into our way of life. We
could start with a “free and unfettered press,” followed by well-regulated
corporations, an impartial judicial system that served us all, equally.

We should, and could, clean up the mess we have so we are a
real democracy that we can all take pride in and have confidence in to ensure
we are all, indeed, “equal under the
law.”

Frankly, I am tired of the games our political, commercial,
intelligence and military establishment play with us and the persistent
wondering if we, the people, really are in control and are being heard, or if
we are little more than sheep waiting to be led to the slaughter.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

When I was younger I developed a real love for cooking. I devoted a lot of time to it and came up
with quite a collection of recipes sufficient to fill a cookbook that never
materialized, but good enough to draw the attention of the publishers of Sunset
Magazine which was one of the best, if not the best, magazine for amateurs who
loved to cook.

With the passage of time, my life changed and other things
captured my interest. My time at the
stove gradually dwindled in the face of other interests that were more
important to supporting a family and concentrating on other professional
interests.

A week or so ago I met up with a gentleman who I had come to
know in one of the local restaurants.
The subject of my interest in cooking came up and he asked about a soup
recipe I developed that he thought was exceptionally good. Interestingly enough, the recipe was
published in a column in Sunset Magazine titled “CHEFS OF THE WEST.” Without the required amount of humility and
time on my side, I offered to give him the recipe. Well, I scoured the house and every magazine
on the book shelves but, alas, the recipe was not to be found. I finally resorted to creating one without a
clue as to what was in the original creation.
What I gave him and what I shared with a few friends was, to be honest,
a far cry from what I had created many years before.

Today, I accidentally picked up a stack of old magazines and,
if you can believe it, one was the issue with a recipe listed in the May 1985
issue of Sunset Magazine created by “yours truly,” for Cream of Garlic
Soup. Now, folks, I don’t pretend to be
a megalomaniac, but I would say that I lean more toward the reserved side. This I can say, it is the best concoction I
ever created in the kitchen and is light years ahead of what I gave to those
few other unsuspecting folks, gracious as they all proved to be.

So, what follows is the complete copy and recipe published
in Sunset Magazine in May of 1985. I
sincerely hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed finding it. And, yes, I had a better fix on the joys of
cooking then than I do now.

“If you have had an experience that took your breath away,
here’s a dish to bring it right back.
Its creator resides temporarily in Saudi
Arabia, but he’s a native of Ridgefield, Washington,
and hence a bona fide Sunset Chef.

His silken-smooth cream of garlic soup has extracted all
that is good and kind in garlic and left out all that is not. Even the garlic haters among our tasters
found it delicious, with an indescribable, somehow comforting flavor that called for second helpings.

Candor requires us to admit that spouses detected garlic
that evening. Serve this soup in a
company of good friends, but don’t eat it before visiting your dentist or
trying to sell an insurance policy.

Cream
of Garlic Soup

3 tablespoons butter or
margarine

2 teaspoons minced or pressed
garlic (4 or 5 large cloves)

3 tablespoons all-purpose
flour

2 cans (10 ½ oz. each)
condensed chicken broth

2 cups half-and-half (light
cream)

¼ teaspoon paprika

Salt and white pepper

1 large egg yolk, lightly
beaten

In a 2- to 3-quart pan over medium heat, melt
butter; add garlic and cook, stirring, until soft but not browned, about 2
minutes. Stir in flour and cook
until bubbly, about 1 minute.
Gradually add chicken broth, stirring constantly, and bring to
boiling.

Stir in half-and-half and paprika; cook until
hot. Season to taste with salt and
pepper. In a small bowl, stir about
½ cup hot soup into beaten egg yolk, stirring, pour egg yolk mixture into soup and
serve.